Manic Street Preachers' new single 'So Why So Sad' gets its Internet premiere here on NME.COM on Monday (January 22), we can exclusively announce. The Welsh trio's hotly-anticipated new single - one half of the double-barrelled simultaneous release alongside 'Found That Soul' - will be streamed in full from 1.30pm GMT.

The singles, the first new material to be released by the band since 'The Masses Against The Classes' in January 2000, will both hit the shops on March 5.

A sample of 'Found That Soul' will be posted on the Manics website - www.manics.co.uk- from Monday (January 22), and is accompanied by yet more film footage from their album recording sessions in El Cortijo in Spain.

The single gets its first full airing on Radio One DJ Steve Lamacq's 'Evening Session' on February 14.

Speaking exclusively to NME.COM previously, bassist Nicky Wire explained: "I'm rejuvenated in terms of songwriting, it's just the other stuff that goes with it...that's the big realisation we've had. This is how it's going to be next year, it's going to be about us. It's just something very exciting."

As previously revealed exclusively on NME.COM, Manic Street Preachers fans in Cuba will be the first to see them play material from their new album 'Know Your Enemy' at a show in Havana on February 17. They play the 5,000-capacity Karl Marx Theatre, and are believed to be the first first Western rock band to play the communist Caribbean island state. Entry to the gig is fixed at 25 cents for locals.